Bedford, MA (June 4, 2009) -- Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules, and Rudolph Technologies, Inc., (Nasdaq: RTEC), a leader in process characterization solutions for semiconductor and photovoltaic manufacturing today announced they have reached an agreement to include Rudolph's Discover Solar™ Yield Analysis and Process Management Software as part of Spire's turnkey manufacturing product lines.
"Rudolph's Discover Solar software provides all the process information to our solar cell production lines. It will allow our customers to bring new lines up to profitable yields and volumes even faster than they can now," said Dr. Avishai Kepten, Vice President of Solar Cell Lines of Spire Corporation. "Customers will be able to achieve higher average cell efficiencies and reduce manufacturing costs. Discover software will give our customers a competitive edge."
"We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with Spire," said Mike Plisinski, Vice President and General Manager of Rudolph's Data Analysis business. "Discover Solar software is the first yield management tool specifically designed to help PV manufacturers to maximize the efficiency of their cell devices, as well as optimize their production processes."
Although it builds on Rudolph's extensive experience in fab management tools for integrated circuit manufacturing, Discover Solar was completely designed from the ground up to accommodate the needs of PV manufacturing. Using Discover Solar, PV process engineers can monitor the health of multiple production lines, analyze different paths through the process, evaluate individual process steps and variables, compare batches of incoming material, discover correlations and chart trends to maximize cell efficiency and process yield. Discover Solar accepts data from virtually any step in the manufacturing process. Multi-variate analysis, statistical process control, and a knowledge base for automated root cause analysis delivers critical information to the right people fast.
About Spire Corporation
Spire Corporation is a global solar company providing turnkey production lines and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide. Spire Semiconductor provides processing technology for Spire's silicon solar cell manufacturing lines and produces and sells custom gallium arsenide cells for solar concentrator systems. For corporate or product information, contact Spire Corporation, "The Turnkey Solar Factory Company," at 781‑275‑6000, or visit www.spirecorp.com.
Rudolph Technologies is a worldwide leader in the design, development, manufacture and support of high-performance process control metrology, defect inspection and data analysis systems used by semiconductor device manufacturers. Rudolph provides a full-fab solution through its families of proprietary products that provide critical yield-enhancing information, enabling microelectronic device manufacturers to drive down costs and time to market. The company has enhanced the competitiveness of its products in the marketplace by anticipating and addressing many emerging trends driving the semiconductor industry's growth. Rudolph's strategy for continued technological and market leadership includes aggressive research and development of complementary metrology and inspection solutions. Headquartered in Flanders, New Jersey, Rudolph supports its customers with a worldwide sales and service organization. Additional information can be found on the company's web site at www.rudolphtech.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In some cases, you can identify those so-called "forward-looking statements" by words such as "may," "will," "would," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "feels," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of those words and other comparable words. Rudolph wishes to take advantage of the "safe harbor" provided for by the Act and cautions that actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of various factors, including risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Rudolph's control. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, the impact of the slowdown in the overall economy, the uncertainty of the current global political environment, the potential for terrorist attacks, the potential for business disruptions due to infectious diseases, changes in customer demands for our existing and new products, the timing, cancellation or delay of customer orders and shipments, the timing of revenue recognition of shipments, new product offerings from our competitors, changes in or an inability to execute Rudolph's business strategy, unanticipated manufacturing or supply problems and changes in tax rules. Rudolph cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties as summarized in Rudolph's Form 10-K report for the year ended December 31, 2008 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which are available at http://www.sec.gov, the SEC's website, and at http://www.rudolphtech.com, the Rudolph website. While these factors may be updated from time to time through the filing of reports and registration statements with the SEC, Rudolph does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
Contacts:
Spire Corporation
Dr. Avishai Kepten
781-275-6000
pvsales@spirecorp.com
Rudolph Technologies
Steven R. Roth
973.448.4302
steven.roth@rudolphtech.com
Rudolph Technologies
Virginia Becker
952.259.1647
virginia.becker@rudolphtech.com